As you know I have been attacking Rona Ambrose and her Cons for trying to sabotage plans to introduce electoral reform.By demanding a referendum which they know would almost certainly ensure that those plans would be dead on arrival.With the help of …
Continue readingTag: Electoral Reform
Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your Sunday reading.- David Korten writes that despite the trend of the past few decades, there’s nothing inevitable about international agreements inevitably favouring capital over citizens rather than the other way around.-…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Why is the MSM Trying to Bury Electoral Reform?
The other day I warned that although the Con's hysterical demands for a referendum on electoral reform, were a product of desperation.And clearly over the top.The Con media is on their side beating the same hollow drum.And sure enough here's t…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: When People Know What They’re Buying
When the Trudeau government agreed last week to adopt an NDP motion which populates the election reform committee on the basis of the votes each party received in the last election, it set up a working model of proportional representation. Andrew Coyne…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Rick Salutin argues that we need to say no to any more trade agreements designed to privilege corporations at the expense of the public. Will Martin reports on the IMF’s long-overdue recognition of the failures of ne…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Liberals, the NDP, and the Con Apocalypse
You had to see the look on Rona Ambrose's face today. For she wasn't smiling or giggling like she was after she called Justin Trudeau a woman. She was screaming like a banshee.The Liberals and the NDP have finally agreed on something. The Con…
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: NDP forces Liberals to surrender electoral reform committee majority
The Liberals will no longer exercise majority control over the special parliamentary committee tasked with liberating Canada from its 149-year old anti-democratic first-past-the-post electoral system.
The post NDP forces Liberals to surrender electoral…
Democracy Under Fire: Electoral Reform Committee Now More Democratic
“Liberal MPs will throw their support behind NDP MP Nathan Cullen’s counter-proposal to divvy up the seats around the committee table based on the share of the vote parties received in the last election.That works out to five Liberals, three Conservatives, two New Democrats and one each for the Bloc
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Electoral Reform Committee Now More Democratic
“Liberal MPs will throw their support behind NDP MP Nathan Cullen’s counter-proposal to divvy up the seats around the committee table based on the share of the vote parties received in the last election.That works out to five Liberals, three Conser…
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Electoral Reform Committee Now More Democratic
“Liberal MPs will throw their support behind NDP MP Nathan Cullen’s counter-proposal to divvy up the seats around the committee table based on the share of the vote parties received in the last election.
That works out to five Liberals, three Conservatives, two New Democrats and one each for the Bloc Quebecois and the Green Party’s Elizabeth May, all of whom will have full voting rights.
That means the government will have to garner the support of at least one other party to win a vote at the committee table.”
I am very pleased to see that the Liberals have finaly seen the wisdom of NOT having a majority vote on the committee to recommend changes to our voting system. As I have said before it is important that any decision must not only be non partisan but must be seen to be non partisan, the new makeup of the committee goes a long way to ensuring that.
Perhaps now the committee can have a discussion about ALL the various systems available without the spurious allegations that this system or that flavors this party or that. There is little doubt that ‘proportional systems will enhance the possibility of smaller partys (particularly the Greens) of getting more seats in The House but I believe that the more diverse make up of voting members will result in a much better outcome.
Now lets get the process started and not rush the public consultation part of the deliberations where almost everyone who has really studied the options is just as torn between the choices as will be the committee members. I do not envy then their work on this!
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Peter Mazereeuw reports on the growing opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership which may result in it never coming into force. And Jerry Dias reminds us why we should be glad if that movement wins out over …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Miles Corak reviews Branko Milanovic’s new book on the complicated relationship between globalization and income inequality. Dougald Lamont examines the current state of inequality in Canada. And Matth…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week.- Karen Palmer writes about a push by U.S. doctors to follow in Canada’s footsteps with single-payer health care – even as a few profiteers seek to tear our system apart:Global evidence shows that private insurance …
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Electoral Reform – Choosing the Committee Members
This week the government has announced the structure of the all party parliamentary committee that will study what electoral system reforms will be put before parliament. Unfortunately they did not accept suggestions that said committee should not have a majority members from any political party (in this instance the Liberals). As several commentators have said, myself included, this leaves them wide open to being accused of swaying the outcome to their own particular preference. Indeed such accusations are already being made before the actual members of said committee have even been selected, true a member of the Bloc and Ms May representing the greens are to be included BUT as ex-officio members with no voting rights. We have yet to see exactly who will be on said committee or how they will be selected.
It seems to me that given these two ex-officio members a say in the actual outcome would even thing out by giving the committee with three Tories and a single NDP MP versus 6 Liberal members a more even and less partisan appearance. I will say here that I personally prefer the ranked ballot favoured by the Libs and, despite being a Green Party member do not agree with their stance as preferring “proportional representation” (although that term is meaningless without also saying what method of obtaining that outcome you favour), I do trust Ms May to make decisions and recommendations only after fully reviewing all the options. I just feel that such an important decision must not only be free of partisan interference but must be seen and perceived as such.
Whilst the actual voting system is getting all the attention thus far it must be remembered that the committee is also charged will examining several other aspects of our voting system including the physical manner in which we vote and identification of voters. In that regard I note that Ontario has said its trial of using modern technology to improve the process has been deemed a success and be recommended for adoption for future elections in Ontario.
If Elections Ontario has its way it will require 41 per cent fewerstaff when the province goes to the polls in 2018 — yet voters will cast ballots faster and get results more quickly.
A substantial investment in new technology is the key to delivering these efficiencies, and Chief Electoral Officer Greg Essensa is urging Queen’s Park to spend $36 million on new gear. This represents a solid investment in democracy, one that should be undertaken soon since it will take about two years to put the proposed new system in place.
Rather than having voters line up at tables while polling station workers look up each name on a paper record, staff would use electronic poll books in the form of a laptop or computer tablet. These can instantly scan a voter’s notice of registration card, significantly speeding up the process.
Furthermore, instead of marking a conventional ballot, electors would indicate their choice on a sheet that would then be electronically scanned by a vote tabulator. It’s a fast and highly accurate system. With this, Elections Ontario estimates it could report 90 per cent of results within about half an hour of polls closing.
Whilst I would love to be able to vote electronically either at the voting booth of from home via the internet there is one seemingly insurmountable problem with getting such a system – veryfiability – both at the time and after the fact so the above system seems like a good compromise.
One issue that I hope both Ontario and the Committee will consider closely is the design of the paper (card?) ballot bearing in mind that it should be both simple to understand and mark and machine readable, the ballots used in the past where tabulating machines were used were far from ideal and depending upon the system selected for federal elections could become much more complex.
The Government’s main objective is to replace first-past-the-post with a system that will deliver better governments for all Canadians and asks the committee to focus on five key principles to get this done:
- The link between voter intention and election results;
ii) How to foster civility in politics and increase voter participation;
iii) Steps to strengthen inclusiveness and accessibility;
iv) Ways to safeguard the integrity of our voting system; and,
v) Taking into account local representation.
They also have said they haveseveral other objectives on this file but its unclear if they will be included in the committees study!
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Ed Finn comments on the history of neoliberalism – but notes that while the public is rightly skeptical of corporate spin, that awareness hasn’t yet translated into a strong alternative:(S)cores of well-known…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Jason Kennedy and the Con Apocalypse
As you must have realized by now, there is nothing but nothing that scares the Cons more than electoral reform.Because they know it would be the death of their Zombie Party. And now that the Liberals have kicked off the process, they're absolutely …
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Alex’s Blog 2016-05-12 18:36:30
A couple of days back, Ed Broadbent, Hugh Segal and I published an op-ed making the case for some form of proportional representation. Yesterday the government announced its process for assessing a range of options, making 2015 the last federal election under our first past the post system. And today the editorial pages are awash … Continue reading →
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how Justin Trudeau’s control over the federal electoral reform committee looks to extend a familiar pattern of top-down government into the design of our electoral system. (And I’ll add one point here which didn’t make it into the column: the …
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Electoral Reform and The Final Destruction of the Cons
It's been almost seven months since Stephen Harper and his foul Con regime came crashing down.And I'm still celebrating that happy day. But I've also been patiently waiting for another great day.The day we start the process that will make…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week.- Carolyn Ferns writes that a long-awaited child care program would represent the best possible Mother’s Day gift for Canadian families.- Danyaal Raza and Ritika Goel remind us how housing affects a wide range …
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